Water Lily Gifts & Gather honored with Community Ambassador Award
Minding our own business
Kelly Cox (left) joins Brandy Torvinen, owner of Water Lily Gifts & Gather, in accepting the 2026 Delta County Chamber of Commerce Community Ambassador Award from Jeremy Menard, Billerud Escanaba Mill Manager, during the Chamber's Annual Dinner on October 8. The award recognizes Water Lily's enthusiasm, welcoming spirit and commitment to showcasing the very best of our waterfront community. (Courtesy photo)
Vickie Micheau
Kelly Cox (left) joins Brandy Torvinen, owner of Water Lily Gifts & Gather, in accepting the 2026 Delta County Chamber of Commerce Community Ambassador Award from Jeremy Menard, Billerud Escanaba Mill Manager, during the Chamber's Annual Dinner on October 8. The award recognizes Water Lily's enthusiasm, welcoming spirit and commitment to showcasing the very best of our waterfront community. (Courtesy photo)
Vickie Micheau
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Opening a new business takes vision, determination and optimism. Opening one just as the street in front of your store closes for reconstruction? That takes an extra measure of all three!
That was the challenge facing Brandy Torvinen when she opened Water Lily Gifts & Gather at 1113 Ludington Street in downtown Escanaba this spring.
Rather than letting construction define her business’s beginning, Brandy embraced the opportunity to introduce something special to the community.
Her enthusiasm, creativity and welcoming spirit earned Water Lily Gifts & Gather the 2026 Delta County Chamber of Commerce Community Ambassador Award, presented during the Chamber’s Annual Dinner on October 8 at the Island Resort & Casino.
The award recognizes a business that enthusiastically embraces its community, welcomes visitors and helps showcase what makes Delta County such a special place to live, work and visit.
Brandy envisioned Water Lily as more than a retail store. Offering home décor, apparel, locally made products, specialty foods and artisan goods, the business also provides a creative gathering space where people can connect, participate in classes and enjoy shared experiences.
But Water Lily’s community involvement extends well beyond its downtown storefront.
Throughout the summer, as cruise ships brought visitors from across the country and around the world to Escanaba, Brandy and Kelly Cox enthusiastically welcomed passengers at the Commerce Center with a pop-up market featuring locally inspired gifts and souvenirs.
For many visitors, their interaction with Water Lily was among their first personal experiences with a Delta County business -- a friendly greeting, a welcoming smile and an opportunity to take a little piece of our community home.
That’s what being a Community Ambassador is all about.
In a year when construction could have overshadowed a new business’s beginning, Brandy chose optimism, hospitality and community involvement.
She didn’t wait for the community to come through her doors. She took Water Lily into the community and helped us welcome the world through ours.
The Delta County Chamber of Commerce and award sponsor, Billerud, proudly congratulate Brandy Torvinen and the Water Lily Gifts & Gather team on this well-deserved recognition and thanks them for sharing their enthusiasm and hometown pride with everyone who visits our waterfront community!